1 Youth in Harmony: the Basis for Reaching Young Singers
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1 Youth In Harmony: The basis for reaching young singers 1.1 The purpose of the Youth In Harmony program 1.1.1 Fulfilling our vision The Youth In Harmony (YIH) program is the implementation of the latter portion of our Society's vision statement: The largest supporter of vocal music education in the world, the alliance has formed strong partnerships with school choral groups, music educators, and their organizations. When we can assist in preserving and encouraging vocal music in our educational systems, particularly through the introduction of barbershop-style harmony and the joys of singing it, we take a major step in furthering recreational singing in communities of the future, while encouraging recreational singing activities in present-day communities. This manual focuses on various support activities in which Society members can take active roles within educational systems. Because this entails direct contact with school administrators and music educators, it is crucial that our approach be supportive and complementary to existing programs, not interfering or contradictory. 1.1.2 Investment in the future The entire YIH program is a multi-faceted effort to reach teachers, administrators, students, and the community. We can help teachers "teach" our style. We can help administrators understand the importance of music education as an integral part of a student's learning experience. Presenting our type of music to young men in the schools can reap a number of benefits. The musical lessons learned from being associated with barbershop singing are of lasting value to the general education of each student. This is also excellent public relations opportunity for your chapter and barbershopping, which is also beneficial to the community. Not only will more people become knowledgeable about barbershop music, but information about our style will be disseminated to the general public through these young men. Students who become interested in barbershopping through the YIH program could form a nucleus that will encourage even more young men. A student may wish to participate in a HARMONY EXPLOSION or Youth Harmony Camp, or sing in a local festival, in addition to participating in his own school vocal program. In a college or university, the student may form a quartet for the Bank of America Collegiate Barbershop Quartet Contest. 1 1.2 History of the YIH program The Youth In Harmony program was created by Abe Gould in the mid-1960s for high school-aged young men. Abe was not a musician, but he felt that young men should have the opportunity to sing harmony in and out of school. He, through sheer love and energy, developed a program in the Alhambra and San Gabriel high schools (east of Los Angeles, California) for the young men, with their choral music teachers' cooperation, to sing four-part barbershop harmony. In the early 1970s, Robert Johnson, who was then our Director of Music Education and Musical Activities, helped the Society adopt YIH as a full-fledged program. Its purpose was to introduce students to this style of choral music to help make singing a lifelong activity. YIH has evolved through the years to include the following activities: HARMONY EXPLOSION and Youth Harmony Camps, Youth Harmony Workshops, Bank of America Collegiate Barbershop Quartet Contest, International Youth Barbershop Chorus Festival, music teacher education, festivals and clinics, national MENC: The National Association for Music Education and ACDA (American Choral Directors Association) involvement, elementary, junior high and high school activities, and YIH chairman training. The organizational structure of support is established. 1.2.0 MENC: The National Association for Music Education agreement The Barbershop Harmony Society and MENC have maintained a long and healthy working relationship. In 1971, MENC approved the inclusion of a barbershop quartet category in school music contests and endorsed Barbershop Harmony Society involvement in school music programs. In 1991, the two organizations reaffirmed their commitment to mutual efforts in music education. It reads: "MENC and SPEBSQSA share a joint interest in the involvement of young men in the joys of vocal music. Because barbershop harmony can be a lifelong commitment, it is reasonable that some high school students may wish to join a local barbershop chapter. This can be an enhancement to the musical development of the student, but should not be at the expense of his commitment to the local school program. It is every bit as important for the barbershop chapter to fully support the music programs in the schools." The Society is also taking an active role in supporting the National Coalition for Music in the Schools, sponsored by MENC and the ACDA. In 1990, the U.S. Congress passed legislation that created the Goals 2000 Education Act, which is designed to set minimum requirements for the arts (including music) in our education systems. SPEBSQSA, along with other music organizations, is an active supporter of this program and has offered to take an active role in this effort. 1.2 How to get involved 1.2.0 The music educator There are more than 55,000 music educators who are members of MENC charged with the responsibility to teach their students music from the last 500 years. Amid the time constraints of rehearsals, performances, fund-raisers, classes, etc., choices have to be made about what to teach. Many music educators are aware that our Society exists but they are not aware of its strong educational focus. Educators of vocal music at all levels, from elementary to collegiate, can benefit from our clinics, 2 workshops, school visits and educational techniques, including warm-up techniques and rehearsal strategies. We can help them use barbershop music and techniques with existing groups to attract more young men into their vocal music programs. This also increases music sources for the educator and can generate enthusiasm in students. Music educators are not looking for more work and responsibility. Many face ever-shrinking budgets or complete loss of programs in their schools. Some have little or no interest in our style of music. If we are to successfully enroll educators and their students in YIH programs, we must be willing to take the initiative to seek to understand how we can be helpful to them, do some careful analysis of what we can offer, and make responsible decisions about how to be most effective. 1.2.1 Supporting YIH There are many ways for individuals and chapters to support YIH. No one program fits all circumstances. There are many variables, including chapter and individual resources, music educator expectations and needs, as well as community needs. A chapter should choose the most appropriate activity to meet and support local needs as effectively and responsibly as possible. Chapter involvement can be as simple as providing funds to help purchase music for a school, or as complex as sponsoring a clinic or festival. It can be as involved as sponsoring a high school or college quartet, or staging a multi-chapter fund-raising concert -- or as simple as writing a check to Harmony Foundation in support of SingAmerica and SingCanada programs for young singers. The important thing is to keep the vision clearly in mind. Believe in the cause. Know it is important. Accept the challenge. Know you can make a difference. And remember these two basic precepts: < We're here to support the idea and importance of music education, specifically choral music, as part of a well-rounded education -- not to dictate to the music educator how it is done. < By exposing young men to the joys of our art form, we set the stage for their possible involvement in the barbershop hobby at some point in the future. 1.3 Purposes and goals of YIH The purpose of the YIH program is to encourage and actively promote the joyful experience of singing, in general, and singing in the four-part barbershop style, in particular, among young male singers and their teachers across the United States and Canada. [Please note, that while our focus is primarily on young male singers, interested female singers should be included, when possible, and information about female barbershop singing organizations should be made available to interested music educators.] The goals of the YIH program are: < To encourage and support vocal music education of all types (not limited to barbershop) in the elementary schools, junior high schools, high schools and colleges in our communities < To provide a performance outlet, which could include competition or festivals for these singers, and to develop an awareness of singing as a lifelong recreational activity 3 < To raise the awareness among teachers and education administrators that barbershop harmony is a viable musical art form that can help them to expand and improve their vocal music curriculum < To serve and be recognized as a valuable resource in support of goals we share with the National Coalition for Music Education < To foster the establishment of groups of barbershop harmony singers at local schools as an integral part of the school music curriculum, and to provide the environment in which young singers can develop greater self-confidence, improved performance skills and a learn the value of teamwork IMPORTANT NOTE This program is NOT intended to be an active membership recruitment vehicle for students or their music educators. Our first responsibility is to promote the importance of finishing their education, with singing as an important activity. Music educators are busy shaping the minds and viewpoints of their students and this is a tremendous responsibility. We never wish to give the impression that we are vying for students' time to the detriment of the school programs. If a positive working relationship is established with the teacher, the teacher will then become a partner in our efforts for music education preservation.